Posted on April 7, 2021 by OFIFC and United Native Friendship Centre
The Alternative Secondary School Program (ASSP) addresses the needs of urban Indigenous students in Fort Frances and surrounding areas by creating a culture-based educational environment where the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual areas of a student’s life are centered.
Founded in 2004, the Alternative Secondary School Program (ASSP) in Fort Frances is the culmination of a partnership between United Native Friendship Centre, Fort Frances High School and the Rainy River District School Board. The ASSP addresses the needs of urban Indigenous students in Fort Frances and the surrounding areas by creating a culture-based educational environment where the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual areas of a student’s life are centered. Through the program, students are empowered to become active members in the community and obtain an Ontario Secondary School Diploma. The program is based on individual, independent learning courses that students can complete at their own pace and offers additional tutoring. Cultural teachings, Indigenous language, and wholistic learning approaches are integrated in the curriculum to prepare urban Indigenous students for workplace readiness, skills development and training, or transition to mainstream high school or post-secondary education institutions. The program addresses food insecurity and student nutritional needs by providing a lunch program to enrolled students. Cultural programming is made possible through collaboration with Friendship Centre staff such as the Cultural Resource Coordinator, Elders, and Knowledge Keepers.
The ASSP at United Native Friendship Centre is part of an Ontario-wide network of 11 Alternative Secondary Schools supported by the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). The OFIFC is the largest urban Indigenous service network supporting the vibrant, diverse, and quickly-growing urban Indigenous population through programs and initiatives that span justice, health, family support, long-term care, healing and wellness, employment and training, education, and research. The OFIFC represents the collective interests and vision of its 29-member Friendship Centres, which are hubs of community and gathering spaces where people can connect to their culture, access services and programs and build community.
The vision of the Friendship Centre movement is to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people living in urban environments. Education has always been an integral part of this vision, as access to culturally-safe learning opportunities that center learners’ needs and gifts is key for the wellbeing of urban Indigenous people. The Alternative Secondary School Program was first piloted in 1990, as Friendship Centre communities organized to meet the needs of students and their families, in response to major gaps in mainstream schooling that included lack of safe, culture-based, wholistic education available to Indigenous learners. The program is realized through a partnership between Friendship Centres and their local District School Board, supported by a long-standing relationship between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the OFIFC. As a program dedicated to offering personalized support to Indigenous students within a setting that combines community and academic support, the ASSP reflects Indigenous student needs and delivers education tailored to Indigenous students in an Indigenous environment.
To learn more about this program, please visit https://ofifc.org/program/alternative-secondary-school-program/ and https://unfc.org/alternative-secondary-school-program.
Posted on by OFIFC and N'Swakamok Friendship Centre
The mission of the N’Swakamok Alternative School is to offer a wholistic and culturally inclusive educational program that meets the needs of urban Indigenous students.
Founded in 1990, N’Swakamok Alternative School is housed at the N’Swakamok Native Friendship Centre in downtown Sudbury. The program is based on individualized, independent learning courses that students can complete at their own pace. The culturally-based program provides one-to-one tutoring, small and large group instruction with an integration of Indigenous content and traditional ways of teaching and learning. The mission of the N’Swakamok Alternative School is to offer a wholistic and culturally inclusive educational program that meets the needs of urban Indigenous students. The program coordinator, teachers and Friendship Centre staff support all students as they work toward their secondary, post-secondary, career and personal goals.
The N’Swakamok Alternative School is part of an Ontario-wide network of 11 Alternative Secondary Schools supported by the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). The OFIFC is the largest urban Indigenous service network supporting the vibrant, diverse, and quickly-growing urban Indigenous population through programs and initiatives that span justice, health, family support, long-term care, healing and wellness, employment and training, education, and research. The OFIFC represents the collective interests and vision of its 29-member Friendship Centres, which are hubs of community and gathering spaces where people can connect to their culture, access services and programs and build community.
The vision of the Friendship Centre movement is to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people living in urban environments. Education has always been an integral part of this vision, as access to culturally-safe learning opportunities that center learners’ needs and gifts is key for the wellbeing of urban Indigenous people. The Alternative Secondary School Program was first piloted in 1990, as Friendship Centre communities organized to meet the needs of students and their families, in response to major gaps in mainstream schooling that included lack of safe, culture-based, wholistic education available to Indigenous learners. The program is realized through a partnership between Friendship Centres and their local District School Board, supported by a long-standing relationship between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the OFIFC. As a program dedicated to offering personalized support to Indigenous students within a setting that combines community and academic support, the ASSP reflects Indigenous student needs and delivers education tailored to Indigenous students in an Indigenous environment.
To learn more about this program, please visit https://ofifc.org/program/alternative-secondary-school-program/ and http://www.nfcsudbury.org/nswakamok-alternative-school/.
Posted on by OFIFC and N'Amerind Friendship Centre
Wiingashk Alternative Secondary School is located at N’Amerind Friendship Centre in London. This program offers urban Indigenous students a culture-based education that balances the secondary school curriculum with wholistic, culturally relevant educational approaches.
Wiingashk offers opportunities to learn life skills and Indigenous cultural teachings and is designed to help encourage Indigenous students to continue their self-voiced educational goals. The program coordinator and teachers work collaboratively with Friendship Centre staff, specifically Indigenous counsellors and mental health supports, to assist students with their overall well-being, personal goals, and life challenges.
The Wiingashk Alternative Secondary School is part of an Ontario-wide network of 11 Alternative Secondary Schools supported by the Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres (OFIFC). The OFIFC is the largest urban Indigenous service network supporting the vibrant, diverse, and quickly-growing urban Indigenous population through programs and initiatives that span justice, health, family support, long-term care, healing and wellness, employment and training, education, and research. The OFIFC represents the collective interests and vision of its 29-member Friendship Centres, which are hubs of community and gathering spaces where people can connect to their culture, access services and programs and build community.
The vision of the Friendship Centre movement is to improve the quality of life for Indigenous people living in urban environments. Education has always been an integral part of this vision, as access to culturally-safe learning opportunities that center learners’ needs and gifts is key for the wellbeing of urban Indigenous people. The Alternative Secondary School Program was first piloted in 1990, as Friendship Centre communities organized to meet the needs of students and their families, in response to major gaps in mainstream schooling that included lack of safe, culture-based, wholistic education available to Indigenous learners. The program is realized through a partnership between Friendship Centres and their local District School Board, supported by a long-standing relationship between the Ontario Ministry of Education and the OFIFC. As a program dedicated to offering personalized support to Indigenous students within a setting that combines community and academic support, the ASSP reflects Indigenous student needs and delivers education tailored to Indigenous students in an Indigenous environment.
To learn more about this program, please visit https://ofifc.org/program/alternative-secondary-school-program/ and http://www.namerind.on.ca/.
Posted on March 30, 2021 by Steffany Salloum
Elder Willie Ermine from Sturgeon Lake First Nation shares about the process of community development and how possibilities like Harvest Days come to fruition in his community.
Elder and ceremonialist, Willie Ermine, from Sturgeon Lake First Nation is the Traditional Health Coordinator at the Lloyd Johnson Memorial Healing Lodge. It is through the Elder’s Council and the work of the Healing Lodge that brings Sturgeon Lake community members together. Ermine discusses the history of his community and shares about the uniqueness of community members. The people are special and it is with the gifts of the people that will determine what is possible. By extracting the memory of the community he hopes that community members will see themselves in the history and will find strength in that knowledge.
Case Study: Sturgeon Lake Traditional Health Program
Posted on by Steffany Salloum
Cree immersion and culture camps offer participants a culturally responsive education.
Founder of kâniyâsihk Culture Camps and initiator of the Cree Immersion School at Ministikwin Lake Cree Nation, Kevin Lewis is an Indigenous academic who has brought what he has learned about educating back to his community. Lewis is committed to land-based learning and Cree education and hopes to ensure his programs provide people, young and old, with a culturally responsive education. In order to evaluate these programs, he enlisted a colleague as an external reviewer who has experience establishing Maori schools and language centres in New Zealand. By evaluating both the school and the culture camps Lewis is learning about what students and parents are feeling, wanting, and thinking about these programs, which has informed how the program changes and adapts over time. The case study is considered a snapshot of the programs at a particular moment in time, and when the case study is combined with the Structured Assessments Framework for Land-Based Learning at kâniyâsihk Culture Camps, it becomes a model for evaluating such programs.
Posted on December 4, 2020 by Annie Pilote
The description of the Story. This content will accompany the Title on the website. La communauté de l’Université McGill à Montréal présente une longue histoire en termes de collaboration avec les nations autochtones, en commençant par la création du McGill Intertribal Council au début des années 1970 qui visait à répondre aux besoins culturels des […]
The description of the Story. This content will accompany the Title on the website. La communauté de l’Université McGill à Montréal présente une longue histoire en termes de collaboration avec les nations autochtones, en commençant par la création du McGill Intertribal Council au début des années 1970 qui visait à répondre aux besoins culturels des étudiants autochtones (Stonechild, 2006; Dufour, 2017). Celui-ci mena rapidement à la fondation du Native North American Studies Institue (NNASI) en collaboration avec l’Association des Indiens du Québec (AIQ). Celui-ci joua un rôle important dans l’inauguration du Manitou Community College à La Macaza, l’un des premiers établissements postsecondaires par et pour les nations autochtones au Canada. L’Université McGill fut également la première institution du Québec à instaurer un programme de formation des maîtres-assistants autochtones au cours de la même période (ibid.). Depuis 1997, la First Peoples’ House offre des services d’accueil et de soutien culturellement adaptés aux étudiants autochtones de l’Université. Ce service qui a initialement été financé par le ministère de l’Éducation et des Études supérieures et certaines donations privées est maintenant principalement pris en charge par les Services aux étudiants de l’Institution. Souvent décrit comme un ‘home away from home’, cet espace consacré joue les rôles de lieu de rassemblement communautaire, de ressourcement, de référencement, de support, de tutorat, de mentorat et d’orientation scolaire et même de résidence pour plusieurs étudiants. Des activités récurrentes et ponctuelles -telles les dîners communautaires de soupe et bannique du mercredi midi- et des événements annuels sont organisées. À l’été, la FPH, en collaboration avec la faculté de Médecine de la même université, organise le Eagle Spirit Camp, un camp de trois jours à l’intention de potentiels futurs étudiants âgés de 13 et 17 ans, dans le but de les encourager à réaliser leur plein potentiel éducatif et personnel. D’autres événements sont organisés en collaboration avec d’autres groupes tels le Indigenous Student Alliance (ISA), groupe d’intérêt étudiant formé d’étudiants autochtones et allochtones et le Social Equity and Diversity Education’s Office (SEDE) dont l’Indigenous Awareness Week qui culmine depuis 2001 par la tenue d’un Pow wow sur le campus à la session d’automne. Le Indigenous Educational Series, qui se déroule pour sa part à la session d’hiver, a ainsi pour objectif de sensibiliser la population étudiante aux réalités autochtones du Canada. Depuis 2005, le Indigenous Affairs Work Group a été mis sur pied par le doyen des affaires étudiantes (Dean of students) dans le but d’améliorer l’offre de service pour les étudiants autochtones. L’Université McGill est notamment très active au niveau de la prise de contact et du recrutement auprès des communautés à travers le Canada et présente une politique d’admission propres aux aspirants autochtones auto-identifiés. Ceux-ci sont appelés à fournir une lettre de motivation, une lettre de recommandation en plus d’un curriculum vitae en plus de leur formulaire afin de permettre une évaluation adaptée par le comité d’admission. Un soutien personnalisé peut également être offert au cours de la demande d’admission. Un programme de mineure en études autochtones (Indigenous Studies) a été créé en 2014. En réponse aux appels à l’action de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation du Canada, le vice-principal exécutif et vice-principal aux études de McGill a créé un Groupe de travail sur les études et l’éducation autochtones en 2016 dans le but de formuler une nouvelle orientation stratégique pouvant bonifier ses initiatives en la matière. RÉFÉRENCES CBC News. (2017, 20 septembre). 2017 edition of Turtle Island Reads celebrates the best in Indigenous Canadian writing. Consulté à l’adresse http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/turtle-island-reads-2017-cbc-indigenous-authors-1.4298777 Curtis, C. (2016, 23 septembre). McGill to take « leadership role » in recruiting aboriginal students. Consulté à l’adresse http://montrealgazette.com/news/mcgill-to-take-leadership-role-in-recruiting-aboriginal-students Dufour, E. (2017). Du Collège Manitou de La Macaza à l’Institution Kiuna d’Odanak: la genèse des établissements postsecondaires par et pour les Premières Nations au Québec. Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, 70(4), 5 33. Fennario, T. (2016). McGill University offers gesture of reconciliation with Indigenous people. Montréal. Consulté à l’adresse http://aptnnews.ca/2016/09/23/mcgill-university-offers-gesture-of-reconciliation-with-indigenous-people/ McGill University. (2017). Eagle Spirit High Performance Camp. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/fph/prospective-students/eaglespiritcamp McGill University. (2013). Pow wow at McGill. Montréal. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXuHoKi-2tU McGill University. (2017a). First Peoples’ House. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/fph/ McGill University. (2017b). Indigenous Affairs Work Group. Consulté à l’adresse http://www.mcgill.ca/deanofstudents/aboriginaloutreach McGill University. (2017c). Indigenous Applicants. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/applying/requirements/indigenous McGill University. (2017d). Indigenous Awareness Week. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/fph/resources/indigenous-education-program/indigenous-awareness-week McGill University. (2017e). Indigenous Educational Series. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/fph/resources/indigenous-education-program/indigenous-educational-series McGill University. (2017f). Indigenous Studies Program. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/indigenous/home McGill University. (2018). Indigenous Success. Consulté à l’adresse https://www.mcgill.ca/provost/indigenous-success Stonechild, B. (2006). The Struggle for Aboriginal Post-Secondary Education in Canada. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press.
Posted on April 8, 2020 by Lisa Jodoin
Audrey Benoit, Vice-Principal of Se’t A’newey Kina’matino’Kuom in Miawpukek First Nation describes how they celebrate and support Indigenous culture in their school.
Audrey Benoit, Vice-Principal of Se’t A’newey Kina’matino’Kuom in Miawpukek First Nation describes how they celebrate and support Indigenous culture in their school.
Posted on March 24, 2020 by Steffany Salloum
Founder of kâniyâsihk Culture Camps, Kevin Lewis believes that land-based education is an important way for Cree and non-Indigenous people to (re)connect with culture and identity.
Within the last two decades, the kâniyâsihk Culture Camps at Ministikwan Lake Cree Nation have evolved from providing fall culture camps where participants took part in fishing and hide tanning to offering camps throughout all seasons and to anyone who wants to learn nehiyo (Cree) culture. Founder, Kevin Lewis explains that at kâniyâsihk Culture Camps participants take part in land-based learning that involves connecting with Elders, knowledge keepers, land keepers, medicine keepers, and berry pickers in their community. By sharing this wealth of knowledge with participants they begin to learn how to be self-sufficient and independent. Some of the many things done at camp include: learning Cree; harvesting plants for medicines; fishing and snaring; hide tanning; preserving moose, deer, elk, and fish; woodworking and building dog sleds, toboggans, birch bark canoes, snowshoes, and paddles; dog sledding; and participating in the Sun Dance, Sweat Lodge, and Chicken Dance ceremonies. The camp offers an immersive experience in nehiyo culture and Lewis hopes that more culture camps become available to people, especially for those living in urban areas.
Click here for more information about kâniyâsihk Culture Camps.
Posted on March 2, 2020 by Frannie and Kisa Rogers
Lonny is Traditional Knowledge Holder working to fill in what were cultural blank spaces with Indigenous dialogue and narrative to create a meaningful cultural support to the clients and staff of the Rotary House. Lonny discusses how important it is to create cultural space for not only clients but also for front line workers dealing […]
Lonny is Traditional Knowledge Holder working to fill in what were cultural blank spaces with Indigenous dialogue and narrative to create a meaningful cultural support to the clients and staff of the Rotary House. Lonny discusses how important it is to create cultural space for not only clients but also for front line workers dealing in the field of mental health. Cultural space is necessary for people to experience what is meaningful for them and to start healing steps. He shares the five components required for Indigenous Education to be truly culturally based and grounded.
